About The Papillon Foundation

The Papillon Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charity formed in direct response to the mass incarceration of millions of men and women in jails and prisons throughout the United States.

We are a non-profit charitable organization which helps veterans, victims of human trafficking and indigent ex-offenders overcome long-term social and economic hardships by providing them with the on-line tools and resources to clean-up their criminal records.

These are the glaring long-term realities faced by people with criminal records:

About 88% of people awaiting trial or serving time in jail had no income or made less than $1,200 a month, according to the Bureau of Justice.

According to Cabrini Green Legal Aid in Chicago, 81% of the clients who visit their Expungement Help Desk are either unemployed or underemployed.

According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, 80% of offenders who return to prison are unemployed.

The male unemployment rate is inflated by more than a full percentage point because the country’s convicted felons have such a hard time finding work, according to a 2010 report from the Center for Economic Research and Policy Research.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that as of 2004, one in ten of the people incarcerated in the United States are veterans. The majority of these veterans served in wartime.

The Papillon Foundation was created to reduce these monumental social and economic inequities by rejecting public policies based on life-time punishment, humiliation, dehumanization, degradation and societal revenge and instead focusing on creating positive opportunities for veterans, victims of human trafficking and indigents.